Intimidating the umpire is an Australian tradition that goes back at least to the days of Ian Chappell, and though it was not as strongly pursued by some of his successors, such as the well respected Mark Taylor, or pursued in a subtle manner by others such as Alan Border and Steve Waugh, the current Australian captain has taken this seeming “birth-right” to never before seen depths of dissent.

The latest episode occurred during the recently concluded Test match at Wellington, New Zealand, when due to near gale force winds at the ground the stump camera was not able to provide reliable data to the third umpire, who was asked by the on-field umpires for assistance.  The third umpire then applied the well known law, that when in doubt the benefit goes to the batsman.  This precipitated a tantrum and argument from the boorish Australian captain, and required Match Referee Javagal Srinath to intervene.  Interestingly, no mention has yet been made in the media of whether Srinath will be imposing a fine, or even a match ban on Ponting. 

If previous history is anything to go by, once again the Australian captain will escape either scot-free or at the worst with a token slap on the wrist.

Here are is a partial list of this Serial Offender’s offenses if the ICC officials want to take a look:

July 2009 In the Ashes Test , argued with umpire when bat, pad catch denied

June 2008 In ODI match versus West Indies showed dissent after caught behind  appeal was denied

September 2006 in ODI match versus West Indies showed dissent when wide was called

September 2006 in ODI match versus India argued with umpire after umpire recalled Tendulkar given out wrongly

April 2006 in Test versus Bangladesh disputed umpires decision

August 2005 Showed dissent in Ashes Test when given run out by substitute fielder

October 2003 Argued with umpire in ODI about a wide given

Not all of these incidents by the way, led to disciplinary action.  And the strongest was a fine of 100% of match fees, and most time it was simply 20-30% of match fee docked.  On several occasions no action was taken.  Contrast that with the actions taken against Indian and other non-white players and one sees a pattern of institutionalized racism emerge.   If you don’t believe me, just peruse the list of fines levied by the ICC here:  http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/breaches-and-penalties.php

Of course the actions mentioned are those that Ponting himself was guilty of.  This does not include the multitude of offenses others committed when he was in charge.  From the recent head-butting of Scott Styris by Mitchell Johnson, to the confrontations with Sulieman Benn and Gautam Gambhir orchestrated by the Australians.  On top of these actions, the raising of his finger to give Sourav Ganguly out in the controversy marred Sydney Test of 2008, as well as scores of other similar incidents.

It is high time that Ponting and his street thug antics be appropriately dealt with, which means a ban for several matches, and maybe even several psychotherapy sessions to help him deal with this obvious issues.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon
• Tweet